Dr. Pignone is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of General Internal Medicine at University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill. He received his medical degree and residency training in primary care internal medicine from the University of California- San Francisco. He then received fellowship training in clinical epidemiology and health services research through the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars program at UNC.
Dr. Pignone's research is focused on chronic disease prevention and physician - patient communication about risk in primary care settings. His main areas of interest include heart disease prevention, colorectal cancer screening, and disease management for common chronic illnesses such as diabetes, depression, heart failure, and chronic pain. He has conducted research examining the role of literacy in physician-patient communication and its effect on health outcomes, including racial/ethnic disparities.
Dr. Pignone is Director of the UNC
Office of Disease Management and is an investigator for the RTI-UNC Evidence-based
Practice Center, which helps to develop evidence-based systematic reviews of
medical evidence. He is also a member of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer
Center and Cecil Sheps Center for Health Services Research.